


idle hands

by en passant (corinthian)



Series: this time, a happy end [3]
Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: M/M, [ insert another apology ]
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 09:26:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6073981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corinthian/pseuds/en%20passant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>snow, fluff, etc.</p>
            </blockquote>





	idle hands

The mountains around Chaldea are inhospitable, cold and barren. Siegfried doesn't mind them so much — they're part of the landscape, just as any setting is. Whether it's mountains, rivers, the great chasms and caves.

Robin hates it.

He complains about the cold and the snow and how it's dark most of the hours of the day. He doesn't like the wind, the ice or the large goats that seem to be the only animals that live in this climate. Robin claims that they're spiteful bullies who grew mean because they sustain themselves on brief spring buds and insects.

Siegfried pretends he doesn't see Robin in the early morning, climb out the window on one of the inner more walls — one near the kitchen — pockets full of apples and sugar cubes and wilted greens. And later, when Robin comments on how fat mountain goats are, Siegfried pretends he has no idea what that means.

Their Master takes a different team with her. It's been happening more and more frequently — Robin hates to admit he's been outclassed by a book and Siegfried doesn't say anything, but neither of them take idleness well. Which is why they find themselves outside — shoveling.

It doesn't really need to be done and even the Doctor commented, somewhat embarrassed, that it seems odd to have the great hero Siegfried snow shoveling. Robin agrees, wholeheartedly, but somehow finds himself out with a shovel as well.

"Are you just bored?" He asks, watching Siegfried earnestly clear the walkway.

". . ." Siegfried doesn't answer, just scoops up another (far too large) clump of snow and tosses it to the side.

Robin helps, a little. He clears off the overhangs above the windows and the smaller walkways further up the path. He leaves the heavier lifting to Siegfried, that's only fair, right? They work in silence, until Robin looks down and is surprised to find that Siegfried has cleared the entire walk, the carved stairs and made his way down the cliff face quite a far distance.

"Ahh, working too hard." He comments, to himself and does the only responsible thing to do. He makes a snowball, walks along the rampart and drops it down onto Siegfried's head.

The effect is comical, Siegfried wasn't expect it at all and immediately turns and looks up — holding the shovel like a weapon. But because of the way the snow is on his hair and shoulders, he looks pretty ridiculous.

"All work and no play is bad for your health!" Robin calls down. "Loosen up and enjoy the day off!"

Robin underestimates two things about Siegfried almost constantly.

The first would be his sense of humor. Despite being mostly stoic, quiet and taciturn, Siegfried has a rather normal sense of humor. He finds things funny, he has things he enjoys, he is not as immovable as Robin would think.

The second is his strength.

For the single snowball that Robin dropped, Siegfried returns an entire massive shovelful of snow. What should probably have fallen short, considering the mass and weight of the snow mass hurled up, did not.

Robin gets buried alive in just a single shovel of snow. From Siegfried's perspective, it's just Robin disappearing and then a single hand emerging. Then, moments later, the rest of him, shivering and he throws more snow down at Siegfried.

It's not at all like a snowball fight. Siegfried stays mostly in the same place, only shifting slightly left or right to scoop up more snow. Robin moves from ledge to overhang, his nimble feet taking him up and down the building and mountainside easily. But it's many small snowballs against fewer, but much larger snow heaps.

And, in the end, Siegfried wins. Robin surrenders, hands in the air before sitting down on the steps.

"You're terrible when you use your powers for evil." Robin groans and dusts snow off of his shoulders. "I'm going to be cold for weeks."

"Sorry," Siegfried replies, joins him on the steps.

"Why do you apologize so much? Seems like a bad habit for a knight. Shouldn't you be all conviction! Justice! Ah, what else. . . like courage and such?" Robin pounds his fist into his palm for emphasis. "Knights like being better than other people, more moral."

"You've encountered some poor knights in your time."

"They're always just a pain in my neck. Wanting to do things a certain way because they think they should. Leads to more difficulties than not. That's not answering my question." Robin grins, and then because he and Siegfried have a different kind of relationship — he's not enough to offer _everyone_ an out, anyway — adds: "If it's too difficult to say, you could always tell me about your massively cool dragonkilling adventures."

"Don't you ever want to make the world a better place than you left it?" Siegfried's tone is somewhat wistful.

Robin laughs. He throws back his head and laughs. It's a little overdone, but it's funny to hear come out of someone's mouth like that. Siegfried looks a little offended.

"I'm being serious."

"I know. I know. . . I just wouldn't have put it that way." Robin tries to recover. "Let's go inside, I'm freezing." So he changes the subject.

Siegfried stops him in the doorway, just under the first stone arch leading back into Chaldea. He blocks Robin in up against the wall, sheltering him from the wind and more importantly: "Why are you so dishonest? If it's too difficult to say in front of others, only I'll hear it, here." Siegfried doesn't give him an easy out, but he understands, at least a little.

"Isn't that a little pushy for a guy like you?" Robin counters, he's not quite ready to be honest.

"It is," Siegfried nods. "And I'm sorry if it's too harsh, but you're never as bad as you try to be."

This time, when Robin laughs, he doesn't throw his head back but leans forward, letting his forehead rest against Siegfried's chest. "Who said you could be the taskmaster, huh? If this is because I was the nosy one first, I didn't expect revenge."

"I don't know how else to improve the world I live in, than to be how I am." Siegfried starts, voice quiet but solemn, "All I can do is that."

"A truth for a truth, is that what you're looking for?"

"I care," Siegfried starts, but Robin cuts him off.

"This is my way of doing what I can too." The wry grin he makes can only just barely be seen, even when he lifts his face to look Siegfried in the eye. "Got it?"

Siegfried understands. It's not a truth that is intuitive to him, but he's grown to understand Robin. He smiles, leans down just enough so their foreheads touch.

"Got it."

"We're definitely mismatched." Robin mutters.

"No, we're not." Siegfried says. Robin can't really argue too much. Besides, he's cold and they're still outside.

"Can't you let me win a single round?" 

"I can," Siegfried's answer is earnest. "I always wish for your success." If it were anyone else, Robin would have felt scored. Instead he just feels embarrassed.

"You make me sick," but with his face turned to the side, Robin puts his arms up around Siegfried's shoulders, holding him close in a very loose, very awkward hug. "And your armor is freaking cold. You don't need this stuff for shoveling snow." But Robin doesn't pull his arms back. The chill isn't so bad either, when Siegfried presses a little closer, leans down a little more, so the hug isn't so awkward.

"I'll remember that, for next time. Let's go inside." 

"Ahh, finally! I can't feel my hands." Robin pulls back and adjusts his clothes, brushing long melted snow off of himself. It's just an excuse, so when they go back inside he's half a step behind Siegfried and his flushed face could be mostly blamed on the cold.

* * *

Siegfried doesn't look any less broad, without his armor. If anything, the lack of armor draws more attention to how broad he is. Robin, with a shovel and broom to knock the snow off of the walkways, regrets ever saying anything.

He slips off the stairs, into a snowdrift and blames Siegfried for it. "You look too cold! Get a coat or something!"

"Sorry," Siegfried replies. 

"Just shut up." Robin feels zero guilt pulling Siegfried into the snowbank with him.

They'll worry about not being called to battle in several weeks later. Despite Robin's flippancy, it weighs on him just as much as it does Siegfried.


End file.
